Finding humor in everyday things

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Coke Factory

I took a little time off during my work trip to visit the Coke Factory. So much memorabilia - old bottles, signs, vending machines, etc. Definitely worth a few hours of your time if you're in the Atlanta area. The coolest part was the store. I wanted everything! Anyways, here's a picture of the "soda jerk". Way back in the old days when you order a Coke, the person behind the counter will squirt Coke syrup and add carbonated soda water. The soda water comes in at a high pressure that you see a jerky motion when he opens the valve hence "jerk".

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

In the Duuurrrttttyyyy, but always a 49er

So I'm in Atlanta this week for work, so don't steal my stuff. This is my 3rd time here. I'm not too fond of this city, but it's nice to get out of town.

I took the red eye out of SFO on Wednesday morning. I sat next to 2-time Pro Bowl Strong Safety of the SF 49ers - Carlton Williamson. This was so awesome! 3 Super Bowl rings! I didn't know who it was right away, but you can tell this guy was an athlete. He's almost 20 years removed from the game, but it's always nice to see a hero from your favorite team. I restrained from testing his football knowledge, but I had so many questions (what was it like to play on such a good team? did Montana drive around SF coked up with police protection, can I see your Super Bowl ring?). He was a very nice guy who was returning home from a charity golf event hosted by Ronnie Lott. He chatted with me and talked about my job and his charity - All Stars For Kids, and his new job - VP at Waffle House.

Anyways, it's a little hot. I was here in March, and the weather was much nicer then. Hopefully, I can get out of here by Friday. Things that I need to do while I'm here: Fogo de Chao's (Brazillian Steak House) Coke Factory Turner Field Tour (The Braves are out of town again. Argh!)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

DirecTV is Dead

So my DirecTV receiver is dead as of last weekend. I ordered a new one from their customer service center. It should be here on September 8th. Argh!!! So no TV downstairs until it comes in.

In the meantime, I have switched my television habits to DVDs that I have had laying around like Smallville Season 1. I have never watched this show, but it has been recommended to me by many of my friends. I'm halfway through the first episode. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Golf - an unbearable addiction

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Lasik is a success!

So it's been 24 hours since my surgery. This is how it went:10:00am Check into the doctor's office.

10:15am They do the wavefront qualification. I'm wavefront approved on both eyes!

10:30am A few more tests

11:00am I get a cool blue hair cover and I'm sitting in the pre-op room.

11:15am I walk into the surgery room. I get more drops and the doctor marks my eyeballs with a Sharpie. They give me a beanbag in each hand and they lay me down. At this point my heart goes from normal to intense beating. The doctor tapes my eye lids open. He places something around my eyeball and says that everything is going to go dark for a second (this is the time they cut the blood supply to my eye so they can make a precise cut to the cornea). You then see everything go blurry and you hear the sound of the laser and smell a small hint of burning. The doctor rubs a few schwabs over my eye and places the cornea flap back and all of a sudden I can see again. He repeats the above steps for the left eye.

11:30am They do a final checkup on the eyes. It's declared a success!

12:00pm I'm home resting.

Overall, it was pretty cool. I highly recommend it! I guess I can compare it to getting your wisdom teeth removed - it's something that you're glad is done, but it's something you never want to do again. The recovery was very simple - just staying in bed. However, I did ignore the doctor's orders - I check my email, chatted online and even watched a DVD... ssshhh don't tell! On Saturday, I resumed by life - GOLF!!!

Friday, August 12, 2005

Everybody's been hurt, but God why me?

If you thought this was going to be some tear jerking, emotional loss due to relationship, just skip this blog. I'm writing this because I'm hurt physically. When I used to sit on my butt I never got any bumps or bruises. Now that I'm fairly active I get injured quite often. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive, or maybe God is telling me to just watch more DVDs. Here are the list of 2005 injuries:Knees - these hurt when it gets cold maybe b/c of the many years of playing a baseball catcher or football lineman. It also hurts that I had cartilage and bone spur removed in 1991. (This will never heal)Lower Back - strained it doing the dead lift in the gym in 2003. (This will never heal).Feet - These hurt from my general running. (This will never heal unless I do strictly swimming for exercise).Finger - I think think I hurt this in softball in June. It may be broken. It probably starts to heal until I shake somebody's hand. (Hopefully heal by 9/05)Groin - pulled it running in softball in July. (Completely healed)Knee & Ankle - twisted it running it out in softball in August. (Hopefully heal by 9/05)Wrist - I know what you're thinking, but I think I hurt this in weightlifting. Really! (Hopefully heal by 9/05).Eyes - I have this surgery thing coming up. (Heal by Saturday)

There was a time when I would get hurt and mother nature would run it's healing course almost immediatly. Now, I get a hang nail and I'm screaming in pain. It's usually not a big problem, however when events come up like hiking or a BBQ then it really sucks to walk around with a limp. Anyways, I'm showing my signs of getting just a little older. Thanks for letting me vent!

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Madden!!!

Quarter Life Crisis

Quarter Life CrisisBy: Unknown

It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot of things about yourself that you didn't know and may or may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you do not realize is that they are realizing that too and are not really cold or catty or mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job. It is not even close to what you thought you would be doing or maybe you are looking for one and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and are scared.

You miss the comforts of college, of groups, of socializing with the same people on a constant basis. But then you realize that maybe they weren't so great after all.

You are beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging a bit more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and add things to your list of what is acceptable and what is not. You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you or you lay in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough to get to know better. You love someone but maybe love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person.

One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap and getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.

You worry about loans and money and the future and making a life for yourself and while wining the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.

Quarter Life Crisis

Quarter Life CrisisBy: Unknown

It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot of things about yourself that you didn't know and may or may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you do not realize is that they are realizing that too and are not really cold or catty or mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job. It is not even close to what you thought you would be doing or maybe you are looking for one and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and are scared.

You miss the comforts of college, of groups, of socializing with the same people on a constant basis. But then you realize that maybe they weren't so great after all.

You are beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging a bit more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and add things to your list of what is acceptable and what is not. You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you or you lay in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough to get to know better. You love someone but maybe love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person.

One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap and getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.

You worry about loans and money and the future and making a life for yourself and while wining the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Salvation Army Back To School Volunteer

So I spent Saturday morning helping the youth of Santa Clara County go shopping for Back To School. This is my 2nd year doing it. Basically you get there about 7am and then you get matched up with a little kid. You then get $100 gift certificate to shop for clothing. The Salvation Army provides a list of the child's size and if there is a uniform requirement. I was matched up with a little 5 year old Vietnamese girl. She was very shy and didn't speak much. I tried my best to entertain her, but it didnj't quite work, so I basically stuck to the script and went shopping. We picked up a pair of Nikes, 3 tops, 2 pairs of pants, socks and underwear for $100.22. Not too bad. Some other people managed to do a better job shopping than I did. I went with Stef and she managed to get her little girl a bunch of clothes for less than $100. Anyways, even though it was a 1 day volunteer thing, I think I made a difference.

Now I have to decide if I want to commit to Big Brothers Big Sisters again for 05-06.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Reunions & the Internet

Now that we're living in the age of the Internet, do events like Family Reunions and High School Reunions mean anything anymore? So I've kept in touch with many people through email and I've done these social networking things like Friendster & MySpace with my friends in grade school and high school. After reading their profiles and blogs I pretty much know everything about them. Questions like "whatever happened to " can easily be answered by a simple MySpace or Google search. The shock and surprise are going to be non-existant. I'm 8 years removed from high school and it feels like I've been attached to everybody through modern techonology. I guess I find out if I'm going to go to reunion in 2 years.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Lasik - All things are good to go!!!

I went to my final eye doctor's appointment for my eye surgery. I'm finally getting Lasik on August 12 at 10am. According to my friend who just had the surgery, you get on the table and they tape your eyes open. The machine comes in and slices your cornea and then your vision blacks out for a split second. You then see the machine shoot a laser into your eye and you see a bunch of colors. The cornea flap then gets placed back in and then the machine gets to work on the other eye. Weird huh? I'm so excited!!!

I go out way too much

I used to be really good about staying in. Now, I'm out all the time. Argh!!! I can't complain. It's so much fun. Too bad my wallet doesn't think so.

Anyways, today I went to Sunnyvale and went to the street festival. My co-worker is off to London to get married, so we took him out to dinner and a few drinks. I was so surprised to hang out in Sunnyvale. I haven't been there since just after college when Thomas got his ass kicked (I wasn't there at the time - I had already left). It was such a yuppyish crowd. I wonder if I'm a yuppie. I need to look up the characteristics of one and see if I fit the description.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Last Weekend

I think I'm going out way too much. This is what I did:Thursday (once again the unofficial start to the weekend):Went drinking in Sunnyvale & Palo Alto with Wilson.

Friday:Played a friendly game of poker. Finished 4th.

Saturday:Went to the inaugural SJ Grand Prix. It was an interesting event. It was kind of a like an import show (circa high school). Everybody seemed to be a drunk guy who oogled over the scantily dressed women. Yes, I'm guilty.

Sunday:Went to the A's game to get the Bobblehead. The A's are now on a roll. It was pretty nice that the game was only a little more than 2 hours long. I saw Nicole for the first time since Christmas.Played golf. Shot a 50 on the back 9. I was giving up early, but I pulled it together in the end. I need to drink less at the game.